Weekly Newsletter  

This Week At LOTS: 05 - 09 Feb 2024

Term 2 | Week 5

School Opens for Term 2 on 12 February,  2024  

Dear parents,

Now that we are finally coming back to school, movement is the key. Action time, really. We all need to move swiftly, but with care. So much has piled up - academic curriculum acquisition, preparation for events, and most importantly interaction and free flowing communication.  Online time was useful time, but still kind of isolated. Now when we break through that isolation and return to congregate as a community - there are certain habits and practices that need relearning and refreshing. We look forward to the joy and the energy and the vibrancy of our learners adorning the campus once again.

Please pay keen attention to the Secondary and Primary school sections of this newsletter, because they will have details about how the timetable will run for the first four weeks. More academic support lesson time has been added for the first four weeks, to help all students catch up. This is a special endeavor designed and curated by LOTs to facilitate the academic and curriculum catch-up needs of all students. We are relying on your understanding and support here.

The newly set up Learning Support team (the names and details of which we shared in an earlier newsletter), will now be at hand and on board to add value to the learning needs of your children beyond the subject-specific lessons. Please reach out to any member of that team or to your child’s class teacher if you have any specific requests for learning support.

We will, over this term, transit to our online management system ‘ENGAGE’ for Attendance, Time Table, Curriculum Overviews, Term Reports, and Student Enrolment records. The benefit of this for you will be that with your parent login details, you will be able to access your child’s attendance, exam and term performances, subject overviews and update contact details  - whenever you want, and from wherever on earth you are. For those of you who may initially find it unfamiliar, the school will help you acclimatize. Once in, it is a very very simple and user-friendly tool that will save you time and make everything about your children’s performance in school available to you at the click of a button. As we go along we will also add pastoral care records, student work, and communication to it all. Which would then mean you will not even need to wait for PTCs to interact with the school - you will be able to do it through ENGAGE.

And, as I mentioned in the last newsletter, please block 15th March on your calendars because it is LOTS Day - which is going to be the biggest full-school event at LOTS. It is Founder’s Day - which will include Culture Day, Entrepreneurship Day, and STEAM Day - all at once. The ceremonial and performance part will happen first, followed by the fairs and exhibitions and then the cultural food festival. More details will come your way closer to time,

On that note, let us welcome our acorns back to school. Thank you for taking care of them for this extended stretch!

Warm regards,

Shouquot Hussain

Head of School

With our first graduating cohort now entering the final lap, we have set up a strong Career Counseling program that will help our focused students procure admissions and scholarships in the best of colleges and universities across the world. We will do our bit, and we need you to avail what we have on offer. The services our university counseling department will be offering are as follows:

1. We will offer career testing to students who are unsure about their career choices.

2. We will maintain statistical data of students at all times (Gr 9-12).

3. We will Counsel students/parents - one on one. Career, University, Country choice.

4. We will advise parents on Financial documents required.

4. We will strategize activities that support college applications like independent research work.

5. We will guide students to build a good resume and portfolio to support their applications.

6. We will Identify the right match of universities for students In a country of their choice.

7. We will conduct international level exams/ interviews and discussions with the university.

8. We will handle the complete application requirements (paper work).

9. We will train students to write good Personal  Statements and supplement essays.

10. We will keep an ongoing connect with the university on the status of the application.

11. We will navigate the filing for scholarship requests  with the universities.

12. We will handle acceptance letter and University embankment procedures.

13. We will Partner with institutions / NGO/ Companies to offer internships to students.

14. We will develop strategic alliances with parents, community and business organizations.

15. We will organize parent evenings and make presentations quarterly.

16. We will organize University visits, fairs and presentations by University representatives.

17. We will organize participation in summer school programs.

18. We will arrange outsourced Career testing for students who may need them. 

We will be hosting the event on 5th October 2024.

We will seek applications from students to be speakers and performers at the event. Students from Secondary school will be eligible to apply.

We will finally select a maximum of 10 student speakers after a rigorous selection process.

We will also have a few adult speakers.

All the talks and performances will be video recorded and posted on TED.com for the whole world to access - forever. 

Watch this space for further updates as the weeks go by.

TIME TABLE

We have tried our level best to cover the planned work during online contact. As you may be aware that online lessons were disturbed by internet challenges on both ends, we have decided to offer extra support to our students. The extra support will be offered to all the students during period nine (9) and ten (10). 

Our timetable will now have ten (10) periods, eight up to lunch and two after lunch. The two periods after lunch will be strictly utilized for learner support. This programme will run for a period of one month from Monday to Thursday. During this period we shall not conduct afternoon activities.

This timetable is compulsory for all students and therefore we expect maximum cooperation from all our parents. Ensure that the children carry enough food or provide them with money to buy food from the canteen.

These additional lessons will provide a focussed and structured environment for students to ask questions, receive clarification, and further develop their understanding of their subjects. By attending these lessons, we expect our students to achieve their curricular objectives and excel academically.

We shall not have ECA activities in the first four (4) weeks. The suspension of ECA activities is to utilize the afternoons for class support. Kindly help the children understand that their most liked activities will be back.

All students are expected to be in school by 07:00 to allow lessons to start at 07:20. Arriving early for school will help the students to settle and ready for the first lesson. Students reporting late for class are always panicking and this affects the learning process.

Some of the students report late for lessons because they sleep late.

A learning support team has been constituted. This is a team of teachers from all the sections of the school. These teachers will identify students needing support to ensure the support is offered. Kindly encourage students to feel free to ask for support in their learning when need be.

Cholera is still there and can easily spread among ourselves. Measures for the prevention of cholera mostly consist of providing clean water and having proper sanitation. We therefore encourage all our students to wash their hands with chlorinated water. They should also wash their fruits with chlorinated water before eating. They should also keep their toilets clean and safe all the time.